About Me

Hi, I'm Michelle and I write Loomis Living to share the insights and experience of living a semi-rural lifestyle. I started Loomis Living in 2008 after moving to Loomis from suburbia. I grew up on 2 acres where I learned many of the gardening, building, and crafting skills I use today. On our small Loomis farm, we have 2 orchards, a large vegetable garden, and are raising chickens. For health reasons we follow a low sodium diet, so most of my recipes are made from scratch and omit sources of sodium.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Easy Paella

What's for dinner? Tonight it is my take on a Spanish Paella cooked entirely in the rice cooker. Aside from only having one pot to clean, an added benefit is that most of the fresh ingredients came directly from our garden.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 hot peppers chopped small

2 large bell peppers (or 3-4 small) roughly chopped

1/4 cup chopped red onion

4 garlic cloves roughly diced

3-4 medium tomatoes diced

3 cups brown rice (these are the small cups that come with the cooker, not a standard measuring cup)

1 packet no sodium chicken flavoring

1-2 pinches saffron

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

1 pound shrimp

sliced green onions

Method

1. Saute the peppers, onions, and garlic in the olive oil directly in the rice cooker for about 10 minutes. Our rice cooker is the fuzzy logic type, so I use the quick cook setting. I have also made it in the standard type where you simply use the cook setting for this step.

2. Once they are softened, add the tomatoes and rice and saute another 3-5 minutes

3. Dissolve the packet of chicken flavor into some water and pour it into the rice cooker.

4. Add additional water to raise the level of liquid to the fill line

5. Sprinkle the paprika and saffron on top and stir

6. Reset the cook setting on the rice cooker and let the rice cook until nearly done.

7. About 5-10 minutes before the setting is complete, add the shrimp, peas, and corn. Just dump them on top. They will proceed to steam for the remainder of the cycle.

8. When the cycle is complete and the shrimp is cooked, add the green onions. Fluff the mixture with a fork and serve.

This is a simple, yet flavorful dish. It also smells wonderful as it is cooking. Enjoy!